This is an amazing little how-to cartooning book from way back in 1923 by cartoonist B. "Tack" Knight.

In just 29 pages he teaches aspiring professional artists how to draw cartoons the old-fashioned way! Some of the pages are corny and not very useful today, but MOST of this book features rock-solid basic building-blocks for learning how to draw in that old "bigfoot" early 2oth century print cartoon style.

Issues were hosted by three ghoulish characters with biblical names: Cain, Abel, and Eve. An issue would typically contain a story told by each of the characters, each bidding to outdo the others in fiendishness.

An illustrative tale involved a gourmet diner whose love for frogs' legs leads to a predictable amphibian revenge: he is left without lower limbs and is doomed to negotiate the world on a trolley.Basil Wolverton and Wallace Wood provided distinctive covers for the first 19 issues, each depicting a freakish character of some kind.

Saturday, November 26, 2011

Development:

Because this is the first album, many story points and characterizations are still in their formative stages. In fact, due to its original, serial nature, some develop and change even as the story progresses.

Publishing history:

The story was first published as a serial in Pilote, a French comic magazine founded by Goscinny and a few other comic artists. The first page appeared in the promotional issue #0, distributed on June 1, 1959, and the story was serially published in the magazine from issue #1 (October 29, 1959) until issue #38 (July 14, 1960). A small head of Asterix first appeared on the cover of #9 (December 24, 1959), and a full Asterix cover was used on #21 (March 17, 1960).